Lamb Of God have been forced to cancel their planned September 28th show in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia as a result of religious objections and alleged death threats. A report over at the The Star Online has word that the countries Communications and Multimedia Ministry denied the band a permit to perform.
The group were also targeted by The Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) for their alleged religious beliefs. The department’s director-general Datuk Othman Mustapha was quoted as saying the bands music is “a mix of metal songs with the reading of verses from the Quran.”
Organizers for the concert commented on the cancellation, offering;
“This difficult decision was made after thorough deliberation by us at Livescape and taking into account the objections raised by various groups as well as life threats made by certain irresponsible individuals towards the bandmembers”
Meanwhile band guitarist Mark Morton has released the following statement on the matter:
“As widely reported, Lamb of God’s concert in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia scheduled for September 28th has been cancelled by the government who refused to issue a permit for the show even though the concert had been on sale and had sold over 1500 tickets.
It is very evident (and a bit frustrating) that the groups, parties and powers that have taken the most offense to our music and lyrics, have themselves only made a passing glance at the content and meanings of those songs. We would invite anyone offended by our music to engage in a discussion regarding the true motivations behind our work, especially before publicly slandering us based on assumptions and shallow misinterpretation.
We sincerely apologize to our amazing fans in Malaysia for the cancellation. Many thanks to all who have spoken out in support of us through this.
We will still be playing the shows scheduled in New Zealand, Australia, and Thailand. – Mark“
